Have we made a runner out of you yet?
Well don’t worry, we’re just getting started.
If you’re already a runner, these last two days have certainly been up your alley. A little blast of spring sunshine had harriers throughout Franklin County out and about, lacing up their pairs of Brooks or Asics, and logging a few miles.
And how could you not? It’s the time of year where we’re already getting out and running, dusting off our gear after what may have been a winter respite. No more treadmills, people. If you haven’t been outside to run yet, now is most indeed the time.
In case you missed our first volume of this little series we’re calling Franklin County Running Club, go back and read Saturday’s Recorder. We featured Charlemont’s Ray Willis, the 91-year-old iron man who is still putting us all to shame.
We move ahead with another special story today, and we’ll continue to tell stories of people, events, history and everything in between in this space. The response has been great, we’ve heard from dozens of members of the Franklin County running community in just a few short days. Keep it up, and please send your recommendations for things that should be featured in this space to sports@recorder.com. Remember, it’s our own little virtual running club, so everyone is welcome.
Without further adieu, here’s Volume II of Running Club F.C.
It’s hard to keep Jessica Lapachinski from getting her run in, particularly during these difficult times.
But for the 33-year-old to even be distance running at all right now, well, that’s a story in and of itself.
The Turners Falls resident and mother of two said she’s logging about 20-25 miles per week right now. Of course, it all depends on the schedule her two children — 4-year-old Carter and 2-year old-Palmer — are willing to follow for Lapachinski and her husband, Peter.
“Running is such a part of me,” began Lapachinski, who said she ran throughout both pregnancies. “Now that the kids are a little older, if they see me in my running gear, they know where I’m going. They know that’s part of who I am. It’s kind of who mom is.”
To get to the point in her life where running has become a part of who Lapachinski is, took some doing. A lot of work went into not only being able to run long distances, but being able to do so pain free.
In high school, Lapachinski was told she’d never be able to run long distances. Doctors diagnosed her with compartment syndrome in her lower legs, a condition caused by pressure buildup from internal bleeding or swelling of tissues. The issue went undiagnosed for some time during her youth, and when she played softball in high school, she consistently battled lower leg injuries and pain.
“I vividly remember the first time I went out for a run,” began Lapachinski. “It was probably eighth grade or so and I got home and was like, ‘Mom, my legs hurt so bad.’ I didn’t know why, but I couldn’t run. It just hurt. So as I got older I started thinking more about it, what is going on?”
It wasn’t until Lapachinski transferred to Stoneleigh-Burnham School in Greenfield for her junior year of high school that she began to find clarity. After being diagnosed with compartment syndrome, she stopped running, and the option for surgery was presented as a way to improve the situation. She opted against it, but began working with her athletic trainer at SBS to see about ways to help mitigate the pain in her lower legs on the softball diamond.
With the help of then-SBS athletic trainer Randy Bertin, now the Head of School at Cushing Academy, Lapachinski made some progress in her fight against the pain.
“That was my foundation, the basis of learning how to run,” she explained. “Icing to start. I think I spent half of my high school career with my legs in ice buckets. There was some pain, but learning methods on how to deal with that through people at Stoneleigh Burnham… it had a tremendous impact on my life and where my career was going to take me.”
That newfound interest in the science behind her injury carried into her college years. Lapachinski enrolled at UMass, studying exercise science and kinesiology in Amherst. The department was full of active students, and she said she really started to educate herself on ways to be able to recover from running. She learned exercises to aid the recovery, got into foam rolling. She was able to build up her abilities over time, and has now gotten to the point where she can run pain free despite the syndrome.
“I trained myself out of it,” she began. “I knew I would never be able to be an elite runner, but I don’t have any pain when I run now. You just have to find ways to make sure you’re taking care of your muscles.
“We can control our own fitness,” she continued. “We can’t control any of this right now, but getting out there, lacing up our shoes, it’s one of the only things we have control over right now. That’s one of the reasons why I’m running so much.”
Lapachinski has made athletics the focus of her career, thanks in some part to her time spent around the people who helped her when she most needed it. She’s currently the Associate Director of Athletics at Deerfield Academy, and has been an employee at the school since 2011.
“A lot of people at Deerfield, and specifically in the athletic department, all of us are into some form of exercise,” she began. “Everyone has some sort of commitment to health and wellness there.”
Lapachinski is on the coaching staff for the softball team in the spring, and said she and fellow coach Rebecca Melvoin would run a loop every day before practice.
“She got me into running in the areas around Old Deerfield, some of the beautiful places you can find around the school,” Lapachinski said of Melvoin.
With Lapachinski working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, she said she’s shifted her running to the neighborhoods of Turners Falls, getting out four to five times a week for some time alone. She normally listens to podcasts or audiobooks when she runs.
“We’ve lived here for almost six years so I’ve run thousands of miles through these neighborhoods,” she offered. “I’ve seen people in the last month who I’ve never seen in my life. It’s been unbelievable, just people almost every day you pass and see.
“Even for 30 minutes a day you can find such great therapy in ‘left foot, right foot,’” she continued. “I love running for the fitness benefit, but first and foremost for the mental benefit it provides me. A break, a quiet calm break in my day. Been running for what, 15 years now, and I’ve found it’s just so beneficial to my physical and mental health.”
And thanks to her hard work all those years ago, it’s a benefit Lapachinski now enjoys pain free.